In October 2014, I asked for all the email communications between St. Louis police (metro and county) and the FBI during the first chapter of the Ferguson uprising. A year and a half later, St. Louis metro police have acknowledged that they have documents pertaining to my request, but that it will cost $3,667 to process altogether.

From today’s date, 5/3/16, I have only 19 days to raise the money, or STLPD “will consider the matter closed.” This is an arbitrary deadline, but it’s also a revealing one: It means that they don’t want whatever their holding to be released to the world. Past reports detailing police surveillance and management of Ferguson-related unrest illustrated how closely local, state, and federal forces worked together to counter what they perceived as insurgent forces, in ways that violated Constitutional protections of free speech and assembly.

I know it’s a long shot, but I’m asking you to help me out however you can to cover the costs of this request. I’d rather not fork over thousands of dollars to STLPD, but if that’s what needs to happen, it’s worth a try.

Communications

Pursuant to the Missouri Sunshine Law and the Missouri Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

All email communications between the St. Louis Metro Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation from August 9, 2014, to October 19, 2014.

All email communications between the St. Louis County Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation from August 9, 2014, to October 19, 2014.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.

As stated in the attached document, your request regarding the Metropolitan Police Department, City of St. Louis has been received and forwarded for review. However, your request for "all email communications between the St. Louis County Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation from August 9, 2014, to October 19, 2014" would have to be directed to the St. Louis County Police Department.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Your request is currently being processed by our Legal Division. As stated in the document attached, Sunshine Law requests are generally processed in the order in which they are received, and there is currently a backlog of requests being handled. We would anticipate responding concerning the availability of records requested sometime during the week of November 24.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

In response to your request for “all email communications between the St. Louis Metro Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation from August 9, 2014, to October 19, 2014” our Information Technology (“IT”) Division has performed a search for these records which has taken three (3) hours of time at a cost of $34.00 per hour ($102.00). In addition, Legal Division staff has preliminarily reviewed the material for three (3) hours at a cost of $15.00 per hour ($45.00).

To continue the review of these documents, this will require the Legal Division to go through each employee’s emails that fall within the search parameters to review them. The review process will entail a determination as to whether the records are responsive to the request and then whether they are open or closed under the Missouri Sunshine Law. Please note that the Legal Division's review of these emails (at the rate of $44.00 per hour for an attorney to conduct this review) will be assessed in addition to the costs for the IT Department's email search the Legal Division’s initial review of the material.

We estimate that it may take approximately 80 hours for the Legal Division to review these records, but it could exceed that amount of time and you would be responsible for additional costs for extra review time. Please note that we in the Legal Division have no way of knowing the number of emails, as well as their respective content, that may be reviewed, and/or ultimately produced, until we actually undertake the review process. In addition to the review time, the emails will cost .10 per page.

If you wish to proceed with your request, please provide prepayment in the amount of $3,667.00 by check or money order (payable to the "City of St. Louis"). Additional costs will be assessed based on the above processes and any responsive and open records will be provided to you upon payment of the balance in full.

If we do not receive payment or otherwise hear from you within 30 days from today’s date, we will consider the matter closed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 20, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.